Two of a Kind
by x Varda x
Summary: When Rodney is kidnapped, it's up to Jennifer to rescue him. But will she get to him in time when she's all alone on a world where men are treated as second class citizens?


A/N - Written for the GirlSavesBoyFic challenge on LiveJournal. I had set out to write a humorous story about Amazons, but this fell out instead... I blame the overtime.

UST/preship Rodney/Jennifer. Set between S4 Trio and S5 The Shrine.

**Warnings**: Torture (aftermath), sexism (against men) and mild violence.

**Two of a Kind**

Rodney entered the infirmary, all geared up for offworld travel and ready to go. He glanced around once, and wrinkled his nose. He disliked the smell of the antiseptic in the air and all his old injuries sang in memory of pain whenever he smelt it. Being in the vicinity of the infirmary usually meant a whole lot of blood and pain. But not today.

He made his way straight over to Jennifer, who was packing supplies into a large rucksack. Rodney hovered nearby and put his hands behind his back as he rocked on his feet nervously. "Uh, hi."

Jennifer startled and looked up at his face first and then down at his chest where a P90 was resting. "Oh! What can I do for you today, Rodney?"

He smiled smugly, "I'm your offworld escort."

She frowned. "You?"

"Yes. What's wrong with that?"

Jennifer shook her head and went back to packing. "It's not got anything to do with the fact that the planet is dominated by…how did the female gate team put it?" She paused for a moment, lost in thought, then carried on, "'Hot headed' women?"

"Of course not!" Rodney shot out.

Jennifer raised her eyebrows and stopped packing just long enough to give him a 'yeah, right' look.

Rodney flapped his hands, "I mean... escorting you is only part of the reason why I'm going. They've deemed it safe, but they don't know anything about science." He puffed out his chest. "Certainly not as much as I do. While you're off doing your thing, I'll be carrying out a full scientific survey."

Jennifer still didn't look completely convinced, but zipped up her bag and Rodney took hold of it before she could grab the straps. "Allow me."

"Thanks."

Rodney staggered, but quickly righted himself and laughed in a peculiarly strained way. "What the hell have you got in here? A dead body?"

Jennifer pursed her lips, "Something like that."

xxxxxxxxxx

Rodney walked ahead of Jennifer along the path, one hand on his P90 and the other holding the scanner. But he wasn't just staring at the screen and not paying attention to his surroundings like he did when he was with Sheppard, Teyla and Ronon, far from it. His eyes darted from side to side and he startled and pointed his gun at a small lizard when it upset some gravel.

Jennifer stepped up alongside him and frowned, she had her medical supplies in the pack on her back. She rested a hand on his arm as he lowered the gun. "Are you okay? You seem a little on edge."

He gave her a tight nod and continued in his staring match with the scaly lizard about the size of his hand. "I'm fine. Just making sure there's nothing out here to attack us."

Jennifer glanced at the reptile then back at Rodney. "Interesting fauna?"

"Not really. But the zoologists might like it."

He took some readings and then carried on walking, with Jennifer alongside now. She smiled up at the clear sky and breathed deeply as she said, "It's good to get out of the infirmary every once in a while. Get some air."

Rodney scowled, "There's _air_ in the infirmary."

Jennifer smiled back at him, _"Fresh_ air then. You don't realise how spoilt you are travelling to other worlds and escaping from Atlantis as much as you do. We're all stuck behind, with nothing but walls around us. It's nice to see trees and fields and grass once in a while."

Rodney shrugged, "If you prefer to get shot at all day long…"

Jennifer ignored his comment and carried on. "Reminds us of why we're here and how this isn't Earth, but a different planet in another galaxy."

Rodney stopped and his hand went to the P90 again. He stepped out in front of Jennifer and said, "We've got company."

Three tall, armour clad, weapon-wielding women had just become visible above the long, sun-yellowed grassland surrounding them. The moment they spotted Jennifer and Rodney, they began to run towards them alarmingly fast.

"Stay behind me," Rodney's voice wobbled.

The women drew near and stopped just in front of the Lanteans. The leader of the three, who held a long wooden staff, stepped out and addressed Jennifer. "Ring traveller, welcome. I am Lady Corvanna," she indicated her companions, "This is Vaylon and Lila."

Jennifer nodded in greeting. "I'm Dr Jennifer Keller and this is Dr Rodney McKay."

Vaylon looked Rodney up and down in distaste as she asked Jennifer, "You gave it a name?" She turned back to Jennifer. "Why did you bring that with you?"

"This bag? It's medical supplies."

Corvanna shook her head, but her hair barely moved from the tight, practical knot it was tied in. "No, we mean this creature."

The leader prodded Rodney with her long staff and he stepped back with a disgruntled cry of "Hey!"

She swung the stick and thumped it against his chest with a hollow thud. He coughed and staggered with a low grunt of pain. "Ow! What was that for?" He clutched his chest and grimaced.

The leader talked as though he had no ears to hear. "He's an ugly thing. Look at the roundness of his belly."

Rodney raised his P90, but the leader was too fast and struck a blow to his solar plexus that knocked the wind out of him. Rodney's mouth moved up and down, but she'd hit him so hard, he couldn't breathe. Jennifer stood in front of him with her eyes wide as he crumpled to the ground. "What are you doing?"

The leader spoke to Jennifer, "You may continue, but this... _male_ must be removed from general circulation."

"No. He's with me!"

The leader flipped back her head and shot Jennifer a haughty look. "Is that a challenge?"

"Uhm, no."

"Good. He's ours now. The male must be quelled." She turned to her companions and instructed, "You grab, I'll subdue."

"There'll be no subduing today!" Rodney cried in alarm as he stood up with Jennifer's assistance, while eyeing the weapons the warrior women wielded with some trepidation.

Vaylon at the back of the group of three was testing the sharpness of her sword with her tongue and soon recoiled with a satisfied expression. "Feral men are not permitted to roam freely in the wild."

Jennifer said, "I told you already, he's mine and he answers to me."

Rodney snorted, "Hardly."

Jennifer gave him a warning look and he shut his mouth.

"Even if that is so," Corvanna said. "You should already know that a man should not speak so boldly nor strut as this one does."

She spun the long stick around menacingly, and Rodney's eyes traced its path and grew wider. "I don't want to have to shoot you," he said.

Jennifer stepped out in front of him into the path of the three women and held up her hands. "We only came to deliver medicine to the village as was agreed when the other team visited here. If you don't want us to do so, we'll leave."

"This is our home," the one holding two long knives said.

"You cannot leave now, not after this incident. No outsiders are allowed and this male is in direct violation of all our most serious laws," the long staff wielder and leader said. "We have enough males on our hands as it is. Plenty to keep us busy and we don't want the likes of _him_ entering our village." She pointed her stick at Rodney where he'd moved to the side of Jennifer, not needing her protection that much, but not completely stepping out of her shadow.

The three of them rushed at Jennifer and Rodney, quickly batting Jennifer out of the way with their various weapons and fists. She fell to the ground, relatively unscathed and turned over in time to see Rodney disappear as the three warrior women bore down on him. He fought them off bravely, but was soon overwhelmed and the sounds of fists and sticks hitting flesh could be heard, along with a quick yelp and a series of pained grunts from the midst of the ruckus.

"Stop!" She cried, but it was too late, and Lila spun around and shot a dart out of a small tube. It hit Jennifer just beneath her collar bone and she passed from awareness with Rodney's name on her lips.

xxxxxxxxxx

Jennifer woke up and groaned. Her head was pounding and she was lying on a hard floor. She opened her eyes and found that she was alone in a small mud and straw constructed hut. Light was streaming through what passed as a window in the stifling confines, but there was no sign of Rodney, or their attackers.

She searched around, but all her gear was missing, even her radio. She hoped Rodney was alright, as the sounds she remembered did not bode well for him and her insides squirmed with worry. Rodney may have said he was escorting and protecting her, but she felt equally responsible for him.

As she blinked to clear the drug induced fuzziness of her mind, the headache faded to a dull throb and then went away entirely. Deciding it was time to go, she stood up slowly, pushed the canvas covering aside from the doorway and ventured outside.

The village was small, but the heat of the planet prevented the pathways between the huts from becoming muddy. Suntanned and heavily muscled women were rushing to and fro about their daily tasks and took no heed of her until she asked no-one in particular, "Where are all the men?"

The nearest woman, the warrior Vaylon who had met them on the path from the gate approached and growled, "Men?" She spat into the dirt off to one side.

Jennifer recoiled and her heart clenched in fear for Rodney's whereabouts and condition. She shelved her emotions and stood up straighter and taller, trying to exude more confidence than she felt. "Yes. And more importantly, where is the man I came here with?"

Vaylon frowned angrily. "You had better come with me."

Jennifer followed the tall woman and was led into another, larger hut at the far end of the village. She had yet to see a single member of the opposite sex and was deeply troubled. Why had the previous team not mentioned this in their report? Several women were crammed inside the hut around a large chair… _throne,_ Jennifer corrected, as Corvanna stood up from the throne and nodded to her well armoured guards to lower their spears.

"Dr Jennifer Keller. Welcome to our noble village. Our apologies for your harsh treatment, but we did not wish you to be brought here with your servant. Males are not permitted to know the location or enter our village."

Jennifer frowned and channelled her anger to stop her voice from shaking, "Where's Dr McKay? I'd like to meet up with him so we can return to the stargate and leave."

Corvanna shook her mighty head and said, "We cannot permit that. You brought him here and by doing so, surrendered him to our laws."

"Your _laws?"_

Vaylon was now standing with the other guards and she said, "Men are useless for anything other than hard labour and servitude. Not fit to lead themselves or anyone else. Women do all the real work, creating and growing life within and nurturing without."

There were murmurs of agreement all around, but Jennifer stood aghast, "That's not true! And especially not in the case of Rodney. Will you at least let me see him, make sure he's okay after you attacked him?

Corvanna shook her head again, "That is forbidden. He is imprisoned with the other males. He is just as foul, smelly and disgusting as all of them.

_So are you,_ Jennifer desperately wanted to add, but didn't think that she would endear herself to them, even if they did all smell like they'd never known that water could also be used for washing.

"Is he hurt?"

"Probably, but that's not our problem."

"That's barbaric!"

"If any male dies, it doesn't affect the population. As long as all women are kept safe, it is of no concern to us."

Jennifer knew she was fighting an unwinnable war with these people and upsetting them could get both her and Rodney killed. If he _was_ still alive after his brutal treatment at the hands of these women. She said, "But we're not from this world. Let him go and I'll take him off your hands and back to our home where we belong."

One of the other guards leaned in and spoke quietly to Corvanna, but not so that Jennifer could not hear. "He is of poor stock anyway. Did you see his overly round belly and scowling face? He would not yield any handsome daughters."

"Nothing that a good flogging and many hard day's work in the fields cannot cure," Corvanna said in an equally loud tone. "And if he's too weak, he won't survive anyway. We should be able to keep him with the non-breeding stock and perhaps take steps to ensure that he can't breed."

The others nodded in agreement while Jennifer looked on in horror. Jennifer just happened to like Rodney how he was, so didn't want these women to start attacking him because of the way he looked or trying to 'fix' him. A P90 wasn't going to solve this problem, even if she could find Rodney's. And Jennifer was the only one in any position to negotiate. But if Rodney was seriously hurt, he was running out of time, if it had not run out already for him.

She could always come back with a cloaked Jumper to retrieve Rodney, so she said, "Alright, but before I go and leave him with you to do as you deem fit, may I at least check the health of your population? Including those you would rather I didn't see or know about?"

Corvanna asked, "You speak of the males again as though you view them equally?" She sighed and adjusted her headdress. "Very well, you may tend to the women in the village first, then you will see the men last."

Jennifer pursed her lips and nodded, but at least she was making some progress at reaching Rodney.

xxxxxxxxxx

Jennifer made her rounds quickly, not finding any medical problems or illnesses with the women in the village. Some were pregnant and she wondered how that was possible if the men were locked away and hidden. She was also curious about the population and how it could be maintained with such discrimination rife. Her queries were gradually answered, although many women refused to talk about the men, while others gave very little information. The men were put to work in the fields to grow crops and plough them, but that was about all they did.

Even the children she saw were all female. "Second born sons and beyond are cursed," the woman she asked told her proudly. "Only the first born are allowed to live, but not here."

Jennifer suddenly felt very sick.

But one thing Jennifer did notice was that there was no laughter and hardly any of the women smiled. Their speech and manner was of those who spent all their time fighting and preparing for the next Wraith attack. There were no songs sung and the only artwork she saw was the engravings on the hilts of the weaponry and an occasional hairclip.

With no-one to impress and no romantic love of any kind, there was a heavy air of gloom and seriousness hanging over all the residents. Men seemed to be held in the same regard as cattle or other such creatures. The weak ones were left to die so the strong would go on the seed the next generation in a ritual that only occurred once a year for those women who wanted to and were able. It was selective breeding gone to madness, which was unacceptable in every way Jennifer thought about it. But then the humans of Earth did it to their livestock to create better offspring, that was different though wasn't it?

There was no place here for Rodney or herself even as guests, and she quickly, but thoroughly, finished her rounds and asked for directions to where the rest of the planet's residents were living.

xxxxxxxxxx

The _prison_ as the women had called it was a couple of miles away from the village through thick grass that was difficult to traverse. A guard accompanied her.

"Don't they ever try to break free?"

The woman, Yondia, said, "Rarely. They know what will happen to them if they do."

Jennifer swallowed and pushed aside some tall grass that was blocking her path. She kept silent, not wishing to aggravate her guide by pressing her luck.

They soon reached the prison, although it was more a collection of huts much like those from the village, but better built and some even had stone walls and sturdy doors. She saw a figure run away from them and hide inside the nearest hut, but otherwise it was silent in the cool evening air and barely the grass could be heard swaying.

The guard looked at her in a bored way. "Which one are you here to see?"

"Rodney McKay."

"Huh? Cute, you gave him a name. What does he look like?"

"Short brown hair, not from this planet, blue eyes, nice smile."

The guard frowned and then narrowed her eyes. "Oh, the ugly one?"

"Yes," Jennifer hissed through gritted teeth to bite back a sarcastic comment that would've made even Rodney proud. But he was still missing and probably hurt, so she needed to be careful for his sake.

"I was with him earlier. Very loud and demanding, but not after I'd finished working on him. He'll learn his place sooner or later as they all do"

Jennifer wasn't sure she wanted to ask what that meant, but the constricting band of nervous worry around her chest that had been there since she had last seen Rodney tightened until she coughed and struggled to breathe.

"This way," the woman said, and led her to a small hut that was entirely composed of stonework. "This is the punishment block where those who stray or disobey are kept until they have learnt their lesson."

She indicated the door and stood back, "I'll wait out here."

Jennifer frowned and pushed the door, surprised to find it was unlocked. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light, but not much longer to see the outline of a person lying deathly still on the ground.

The man was bound hand and foot and there were chains on the walls and hanging from the ceiling along with whips and yokes with buckets of varying sizes, filled with what looked like water. The ropes around his wrists were hooked to one of the hanging chains on the wall so that his arms were stretched above his head while the rest of his body was crumpled in a heap on the floor. It looked like the chains could be pulled in such a way to suspend a prisoner from the ceiling by his arms, but they'd let him down part way. His head lolled on his chest so that his face was hidden and his breaths snuffled loudly in unconsciousness. But it was unmistakeably Rodney.

He was dirty and clad in only a grubby torn shirt and trousers of the same material. His back was bloody, as was his front, and as he breathed shallowly, the shirt slipped open to reveal angry bleeding slashes, along with very painful looking bruises. His face was black and blue with tear tracks down his cheeks, and his eye sockets were only dark rings. Blood had slid down his chin from his split lip and nose, but was now dried on.

"Oh, Rodney!" Jennifer breathed, and knelt down next to him and checked him over more thoroughly. Quickly detaching herself from her emotions, she undid the clasp holding his arms suspended, and laid him down gently as a dead weight in her arms, then swiftly unbound his wrists and ankles. She pulled the ropes away to find that they had been tied distressingly tight and left purple bites all around his limbs and his hands and feet felt cold. She uncovered more bruising, including unpleasant and troublingly darkened red patches covering much of his abdomen.

Rodney sucked in a breath and whimpered quietly as she palpated the tender areas. He kept his eyes shut, "Can't help how I look. Hitting me won't make me thinner and certainly won't enable me to plough fields and carry water like a horse."

Jennifer gently grasped his hand and touched his forehead. "Rodney, it's okay. It's only me."

His eyes opened slightly, although they were swollen and puffy. "Jennifer? How did you get here? Unless I'm hallucinating again. They said I was ugly and unworthy."

"You're not ugly, Rodney. And don't you like to tell everyone how clever and brilliant you are. Certainly not unworthy!"

Rodney's face rose for a moment and then instantly fell. "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

She gave him a small smile, "Did it work?"

"Not really." His breath hitched and he flinched. "They threatened to cut me. T-t-to cut things… _off_, if I didn't admit to it."

She furrowed her brow and squeezed his hand. "It's alright. I'm here now, but we have to go quickly. Can you walk?"

"I'm no' sure." His voice was slurring now and Jennifer feared his head injuries were more serious than she initially thought. She wouldn't know how badly hurt he was until she could get him back to Atlantis and under the scanner. What culture could do this to someone? Who could think that such actions were justified?

Rodney blinked at her slowly, and then his eyes fluttered shut.

"Oh no you don't! Stay awake and help me out." She patted his face and his eyes snapped open. She left her hand there, feeling the scratch of stubble hidden by the dirty and bruised skin and brushed her thumb over his cheek tentatively. He sighed sadly and winced.

"I really did mean it," Jennifer said as she moved her hand round and cupped his cheek while still holding his lightly trembling hand in her other one. "But you won't find out anything else unless you help us escape."

How was she supposed to get him out of there? She was all alone and certainly couldn't carry him all the way back to the gate. She wished she'd insisted on a military escort then maybe they wouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place. Or asked for a shorter check up dial in time. A rescue could already have been on the way.

But instead she was here, alone, with a seriously injured and deteriorating patient and no supplies whatsoever.

"Think, Keller, think," she said to herself.

"I can think," Rodney slurred. "'s what I do best."

"What do you suggest then?"

"Release the others, tell them to head for the gate and get out of here. Not many left in this place."

"A diversion? That could work. There only seems to be one guard."

She tucked Rodney's shirt around him where it was open and he had yet to make any moves to close it. He was still shivering slightly, so she took off and wrapped her jacket around his shoulders, looping and tying the sleeves over his chest. Taking his hand and pulling his arm across her shoulder, she helped him upright and together they staggered towards the door.

The guard was still waiting outside and when she saw Rodney, she pressed a hand on his bloody chest and shoved him back towards the hut. Rodney cried out in pain and Jennifer nearly unbalanced and went crashing backwards with him. But she held her ground and shouted, "Stop it! Just stop!"

"You cannot leave with him!" The guard called back, just as angrily.

Rodney wheezed curses under his shaky breaths and then began a seemingly endless mantra of sad little ow's in his misery. Jennifer grasped his hand tightly where his arm was over her shoulders so that she could draw her other arm around his back, not only to steady him, but so she could curl her hand around his side and hold him reassuringly.

She spoke in desperation, "Why not? Men are people too. Just as human as you or I, with thoughts and feelings. Their blood is red and they get hurt and feel pain. From what just happened, can't you now see they're the same and just as worthy?

The guard replied hotly, "No. If a man is hurt then he doesn't deserve to live. If one becomes sick it is of no concern to us. Only the strong survive as it has always been.

As the argument escalated, Jennifer noticed that other hut doors were opening and the men were coming out to see and listen to what was happening. They were not weedy and weak as Jennifer had imagined, but highly muscled, tanned and tall just like the women.

"Leave us alone and let me leave. You don't want him and you certainly haven't looked after him. But I _do_ want him, whole and unhurt and just as he is without your interference."

Rodney had stopped muttering now and was getting heavier. Jennifer sagged under his weight and looked at the men behind the guards with pleading eyes. "Help us! Or more importantly, help yourselves!"

There were only ten men compared to the hundred or so Jennifer had seen in the village, which made sense based on their treatment. There were a few children as well - all male in contrast with the female only village.

One of them stepped forward and said to the others, "Can the women not plough their own fields? See how they like it! Without us they'll die out and do we really care that much? To see what they have done to this man," he indicated Rodney who was now gasping and close to passing out. "And others who are like him should be proof enough."

The others murmured in agreement and the single guard bowed her head before speaking to Jennifer, "Very well. As you ask, then I shall allow. If you really and truly want him that badly, you can take him. But don't ever bring him back and do not speak with our men again."

Jennifer nodded and shared a look with the ring leader of the men. His face was unreadable, but she had the more pressing issue of the fading Rodney to attend. Two of the men brought forth a stretcher that was worn and had seen much use. No doubt, _too_ much use, and placed Rodney upon it where he was now unconscious again. The guard remained behind while they carried him to the gate.

"We are tired of this," the man said to her. "We know we are equal to the women, but there are too few of us to stand against them."

"Why don't you leave?" Jennifer asked as she dialled Atlantis and sent through her IDC.

"This is our home as well as theirs. Besides, we have nowhere else to go. There are plans in motion to rescue those who are not first born and hide them until we are equally matched in number as well as strength."

"That'll take several generations," Jennifer said as the men relinquished the stretcher bearing Rodney right next to the gate for Jennifer to drag through easily.

The man nodded and smiled – the first one she had seen of anyone on the planet. "You have shown us, and the man you brought with you told us that it is possible and that we are correct in our beliefs of equality. One day it will come to pass, and when it does, our ancestors will remember you."

Jennifer couldn't help but smile back and said a swift good luck before her attention was drawn back to her ailing companion. The men departed even as she pulled Rodney through the gate and she was back on Atlantis amid calls for a medical team.

xxxxxxxxxx

Rodney was such a beaten, bruised and bloody mess that he was unconscious for a full two days before showing more natural signs of life than those of the monitors surrounding him.

Jennifer spoke with him first the moment he awoke, but all he could talk about was what had happened and Jennifer pursed her lips and offered reassuring words she was unsure he heard.

A day later when Rodney was still drifting in and out of consciousness, Sheppard was sitting with him, holding a book open in front of himself. But he was frowning and his eyes didn't move along the lines of text.

Jennifer saw that Rodney was asleep and checked his bandages and made sure the painkillers and fluids were topped up. He hadn't needed surgery for the internal bleeding, but it had taken a long time to stitch together all the cuts and he was still weak while his body replenished the blood he had lost and slowly healed.

She had been so busy, Jennifer had not yet had a chance to speak with the Colonel alone about what had happened other than in the debriefing shortly after she had returned from the mission, too exhausted to assist with Rodney's treatment in the infirmary.

He looked up at her and asked, "What happened there? Has he said anything to you?"

Jennifer pulled up another chair and sat down with a sigh next to Sheppard. "All that I knew at the time was that he'd been hit and most likely whipped or cut in some way, but he said some things when he first woke up."

John frowned and Jennifer felt indignation building inside her. John was angry with her for letting this happen to Rodney! But what was she supposed to have done?

He said, "I don't blame you for what happened."

Jennifer's mouth opened in surprise and the bubble of anger popped and vanished in an instant.

John didn't look at her as he continued, "I should've gone with you or at least assigned a military escort. I've already spoken with the team that did the initial recon about the vital information they left out of their reports."

They sat in silence for a moment before Jennifer's eyes tracked along Rodney's sleeping form in front of them and she said quietly, "They tortured him."

John's face tightened. "I know."

"He told me they made him say he was ugly and unworthy and kept hitting him over and over until he did."

John said nothing, but continued to stare ahead blankly as Jennifer continued. "He said he defied them for a while until the pain became too much to take and he gave in. He didn't have a choice or they would've maimed or killed him."

John asked, "Can you fix him up?"

"Physically, yes. But I'm not sure what his self image was like before this or what affect this may have had."

John gave her a brief nod, but kept his expression unreadable, "Do what you can."

xxxxxxxxxx

A few days later and Rodney was awake and getting better. There was significant bruising to his abdomen and face, but it was slowly fading as his skin also knitted together.

Jennifer was checking him over when he woke up and jumped in fright.

"How are you today, Rodney?"

He gave her a tiny smile. "Better now."

Jennifer smiled back, "I'm glad to hear it." She continued noting down readings from his equipment while he tracked her movements with his eyes. She shifted uncomfortably and turned to look at him again, "Anything I can get you?"

"Back on the planet, you said you wanted me."

Jennifer frowned at him, "I don't remember that."

"Just as I am."

"We all need you here on Atlantis, Rodney."

He rolled his eyes and said in a playful sing song voice that made a shiver run down her spine. "Oh, I _know_ I'm needed." Rodney's eyes darkened and he gave her a sultry look as he spoke in a low voice, "But no-one's ever said they _wanted_ me before."

"Perhaps they thought it?" Jennifer said half heartedly, knowing she'd already lost.

Rodney raised an eyebrow.

She leant forwards and planted a tender kiss on his forehead. "Just don't let it get to your head."

As she withdrew, she found that Rodney was gazing at her in shock, and Jennifer smiled. She squeezed his hand just before she walked away and left him with his mouth hanging open like a landed fish.

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A few weeks later, Rodney was out of the infirmary and back on light duties. He was well on the way to being back to the fine physical specimen of the man he had been prior to the fated trip through the gate with Jennifer. But his mood had taken a turn for the worse. Although the pain from his injuries was fading as he healed, his mind was often elsewhere and he rarely sniped at his colleagues or used his quick wit to crack at anyone around him.

Jennifer wasn't the only one troubled by this change in him nor was she the only one who tried to do something about it. But she felt that she was the only one who really _could_ do something about it as her feelings for him bubbled beneath the surface and threatened to break forth every time she saw him looking so sad.

Jennifer knew that he'd lost weight since he was released and he'd already been admitted to the infirmary once with low blood sugar because he claimed he had forgotten to eat and his belly ached when he did. The pain he still felt was an effect of the bruising he had sustained and was likely to last weeks, if not months, but he shouldn't stop eating because of it.

So she invited him over to her quarters for some friendly, or more than just friendly, reassurances that he wasn't ugly as the women on the planet had tried to condition him into believing. Nor was he unworthy of female attention. She picked out a movie for them to watch, stole some of Colonel Sheppard's popcorn and located a large screen for them.

Unfortunately, Rodney was too intelligent and saw right through her plan, but he came to the wrong conclusion in his traumatised mind. "Are you doing this because you feel sorry for me?" He asked almost as soon as they had sat down on the sofa. The movie was rolling, but neither of them were really paying it much attention.

Jennifer frowned at him. "No. I'm doing this because I felt now was the best time to act on my feelings."

"Your feelings?" Rodney said, sounding genuinely baffled, but still downcast.

Jennifer shuffled up closer to him and said carefully, "Of course, if you think I'm taking advantage of you, you don't have to say or do anything. I can wait or go away if that's what you want."

"Oh, please," Rodney snapped. "Do you really think I have that low an opinion of myself. Hello? Most intelligent man within at least a hundred thousand light years!"

Clearly he was too clever to fall for that one or not realise what she was doing. Jennifer had once thought of him as socially inept, but perhaps he wasn't as completely naïve as her initial opinion of him.

Jennifer smiled and laughed and moved closer until they were nearly touching and she was well into his personal space bubble, so much so that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body.

She didn't really believe for a moment that he was _that_ confident. Even a man like Rodney McKay needed some reassurance that he was wanted and accepted. It wasn't a Rodney thing, but more a human thing - the need to feel wanted rather than just a quantity or useful object. But Rodney was always a hard man to read, hiding his true feelings behind the snappy comments. He was good at using anger or his work to distract those who peered too closely or pried too deeply into his inner feelings. If all the layers in his tough outer shell were to be peeled back, would she find out how he was feeling on the inside and whether his attitude was all for show and actually hiding the deeply traumatised, saddened and lonely man within?

Rodney sighed, but didn't make any move to get away from her encroachment. In fact, he moved his arm up and drew it around her shoulders and pulled her in so that they were touching.

Jennifer curled up on the sofa next to him while they watched the movie together and munched on the stolen popcorn. She pressed herself against his side during the course of the evening, careful to avoid where she knew he was still hurting under his shirt, while he left his arm draped over her back and shoulders. It was wonderfully warm to be so close to him and if there was a silent moment in the sequence showing on screen, she swore she could hear his heart beating. She hugged him around the middle, not too tightly, but just enough to make his breath hitch. She peered up at his face as he gave her a bemused look.

She raised her eyebrows playfully as she rubbed her hand across the pleasingly gentle curve of his soft lower belly and he shivered.

_Fin_


End file.
